How Rochester became ‘tremendous model,’ popular home for deaf community

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Antony A. L. McLetchie moved a little more than a year ago to become superintendent of the Rochester School for the Deaf.

McLetchie took charge of one of the nation’s oldest schools for children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. But McLetchie’s relocation was much more than another chapter in his career. Moving to Rochester meant better and easier access to healthcare, professional services, media and so many other important and everyday aspects of life.

“I feel like a normal person here,” McLetchie said through an American Sign Language/English interpreter.

Rochester has the highest per capita population of deaf or hard-of-hearing adults younger than 65 in the nation, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a part of Rochester Institute of Technology.

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